Donegal business awards a chance to shine a light on success

Donegal’s small businesses will get a wonderful opportunity to shine a light on their business success by entering the 2017 Donegal Enterprise Awards in one of three separate categories.

The awards, now in their 21st year, are the highlight of the business calendar in Donegal and this year’s winners will be announced on March 25th 2017 at a gala dinner.

The competition is open to all business sectors in Donegal that employ less than 50 full-time staff, with the exception of previous county winners who are not eligible to enter. A business does not need to have had any previous contact with the Local Enterprise Office to enter the awards.

Previous entrants to the competition have praised the benefits of the awards process for helping them renew and refresh focus on their business.

They have also insisted that the opportunities for networking and learning from other businesses in the county, was tremendously beneficial to them as they moved their enterprise on to the next stage.

This year’s competition will see awards presented in the following categories:

Overall Winner
Best Established Business
Best Start Up Business (18 months or less)
Innovation Award

“The innovation award really is a broad category. It is not just about research and development but rather an award for a business who can demonstrate innovative ideas across their organisation. For example a business using innovative marketing strategies or one using innovative time saving techniques, would fit nicely into the category. It really is one that any business can use to show off one or even many strengths,” Michael Tunney, Head of Enterprise at Donegal Local Enterprise Office, said.

Shortlisted businesses must be available to present themselves to the judging panel at a time to be agreed on 20 March 2017, but any business interested in making an application will be helped through the process with a special workshop on February 27 to allay any fears and answer questions about the application process.

The application form, guidelines for the judging criteria, marking system and competition guidelines are all available to download from the Donegal Local Enterprise Office website: